Palm and HP

In case you didn't hear, we just announced a merger with a little shop down the street called HP. That little shop happens to be the world’s largest technology company, and certainly one of the most revered companies in all of tech-land. Can you say "webOS acceleration"? We’re pretty excited, and pleased we surprised the world again. Go here for more information. 

Jon Zilber

Important Information for Palm Stockholders

In connection with the proposed merger, Palm will file a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). INVESTORS AND STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND OTHER PROXY MATERIALS THAT PALM FILES WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE AS THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE MERGER AND RELATED MATTERS.

Palm and HP and their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the proposed merger. Information about Palm’s directors and executive officers is set forth in the proxy statement for Palm’s 2009 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on August 13, 2009. Information about HP’s directors and executive officers is set forth in the proxy statement for HP’s 2010 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on January 27, 2010, and in HP’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2009, which was filed with the SEC on December 17, 2009. Additional information regarding these persons and their interests in the merger will be included in the proxy statement relating to the merger when it is filed with the SEC. The proxy statement, any additional proxy materials and Palm’s other SEC filings are, or when filed will be, available free of charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, by going to Palm’s Investor Relations page on its corporate website or by contacting Palm’s Investor Relations department by e-mail at teri.klein@palm.com, by phone at (408) 617-7000, or by mail at Palm, Investor Relations, 950 West Maude Avenue, Sunnyvale, California 94085. 

Comments

[samsatrojan]

Can you say Palm Tablet now? I've been a Palm user and fan since the 90's and will remain so, must go through my stages of grief but hoping they'll keep the name Palm and their innovations going.

[FT]

Really good news -- both for Palm itself, and for Palm / webOS fans. Let's hope HP will enable Palm to introduce new and cool smartphones before the year's end.

[John]

Lost some stock but am still happy about this 'merger' because I love my Pre and WebOS. Funnily last week I was looking for a MBP replacement and - getting frustrated about Apples developer politics - I decided not on a new MBP but on a HP Envy and now this. Best wishes to all of you!

[Jon Fu]

Radioshack put those webos phones back on the shelf!

[Steven Sidman]

WebOS and HP hardware? Could be very nice. Faster, better build quality, better marketing, distribution, and support. Palm will have the heft to compete, and HP's excellent hardware will get brand-specific value add that rescues it from market irrelevance.

[Andrian N]

i how palm and hp create a palm pre 4g on sprint

[Steve G]

I hope HP helps webOS become ever better then it already is..

[fernando marques]

Congatulations !!
i''m come from bauru /Brazil. I'm usuary of products of Palm 10 years ago. I have a Palm PRO.

[Christopher]

Congrats as I was a HP Palmtop LX100/200 user before Palm Series devices (now for +12yrs). However, what does this mean for the release of the Palm Pre/Pixi Plus to ATT? I have been waiting too long using my 680's and Centro.

[Steve Langeler]

Here's a description of the new Palm Pre that I would like to order: Change the physical size to that of the i-phone or a tad bigger (3x4 still fits in a man's pocket or a woman's purse). 5/8 or 3/4 thick is ok. Weight is not an issue! (well, keep it under 5 lbs). Smaller is not better. Make it big enough for a MAN to grab it without accidentally dialing the last call because his fingers wrapped around the screen! The current Pre is for girls size-wise. Make the screen as BIG as possible! have the quick capability to shut off all outside connection and use it as a PDA. Voice recognition is a must along with a qwerty keyboard for easy texting, GPS, more speed, more memory, the highest res camera available, a bigger charge port... not the mini, bigger battery with quick change capability for an extra charged battery, multi-ap capable (as now)with hot sync to laptop thru cable or IR port, quick sound on-off with a better switch (instead of the dinky one that you have to make sure it was moved, a go back (oops or undo) BUTTON that is pushed not slid, more shortcut buttons on the keyboard, the speaker big enough to listen to the radio on for local stations, the Verizon network, the back flat for the level ap, a slide out with another screen and keyboard would be great, Oh, and different colors beside black.

[Drivingmustangs]

Wow! Ruby hooked up with the biggest technology company in the world. Webos on more phones, netbooks, smartbooks and pads! hp will rock with palm!

[Craig]

Palm phones = sexy; HP...not. Make the right choices, HP.

[Ben]

Awesomeness time infinity. Very happy to hear they want to keep WebOS :D B)

[Peter Jacobsen]

Congratulations! I am sure this will help Palm move forward and produce even greater products than previously. And it will help the visibility of the WebOS platform.

I have used Palm products for 10 years, and just this month replaced my Treo 650, a wonderful but by now out-dated product, with a HTC Desire runnning on Android. I had hoped that Palm would offer new and fantastic products here in Scandinavia too for a long time, but finally I had to give up the hope, and move to another platform.

With HP's ressources I am looking forward to see what the WebOS platform can bring forth in terms of really neat hardware, and too see it marketed properly, both in terms of making the products avaialalbe worldwide, and in terms of spreading the word..

Congratulations Palm!

[IP Factor]

Excellent news, lets hope the next Palm will have double processor, a fold-able and larger screen and keyboard, and a software development platform to enable open source programmers to create a myriad new applications very quickly. Verizon also needs to enhance its coverage and increase net throughput. It's been almost 15 years since the Pilot with its smart and fun touch scripting platform. Too bad that Palm abandoned its development (what happened?), but here is hoping that HP and Palm invest adequate resources to develop a truly revolutionary all-time connected mobile IP platform. One more suggestion, add smart WiFi connection capability so that whenever Verizon signal is poor (unfortunately it happens very often in downtown Washington DC!) users still can connect to other available hotspots.

[TonyP]

I've been a Palm customer since the original Palm (US Robotics) Pilot to the Centro. The slow progression of WebOS onto other carriers, specifically US GSM forced me to look at other open OS smartphones. I'm so glad that HP, another brand that I've been loyal to for years will be integrating Palm.

I am looking forward to the survival of the Palm brand and WebOS. I hope HP puts its significant engineering, marketing, advertising force behind expanding the Palm products available in the market and to all carriers, start with TMobile please.

[carisa]

I'm glad Palm will get the support of HP on webOS.. I heart my Pre!! Hopefully some great marketing will provide this excellent OS the expanded user base and credit it deserves. And please don't lose the Palm branding!!! I love the appeal of the HTC Evo.. however, I don't want to lose webOS... therefore I will hold out and hope Palm delivers something comparable very soon. WebOS is a million times better than iPhone, Android or Blackberry!!!

[Jonny G]

Like some others, I would dearly love to have a Pre Plus on the Rogers GSM network in Canada. I've used Palm PDAs from IIIx, and integrated my phone on my current Treo 680. I need GSM, so won't by a CDMA Pre from Bell. Please, please, please get the marketing together to broaden Palm availability in Canada!

[Barbara K]

Way to go Palm! I have had people warn me sympathetically that my love of my Palm Pre+ and Palm were misplaced as you were going to fold. I told them this had been predicted before and did not happen, that you had too great a product line, history, and staff and that I was sure you would do something brilliant. Of course, I was right :) May you go from strength to strength!

[Brian Smithson]

This is good news, I think, for both companies. Although it is sad that Palm will no longer be a fully independent company, it is increasingly difficult to remain independent in the smartphone market -- even for the big phone manufacturers.

Most of you (even those at Palm and HP) probably don't realize that HP and Palm have worked together in the past. Some 15 years ago (*before* the Palm Pilot), the HP OmniGo 100 pen-based palmtop ran Geoworks GEOS operating system and had PIM applications that were written by a startup company called Palm Computing. Here's a pic: http://www.grot.com/zoomer/pictures/omnigo-normal.gif

I've used Palm stuff continuously since October 1993 when I bought a Casio Z-7000, then later a Palm Pilot, Palm V, Vx, Lifedrive, Treo, and now Pre. Loved 'em all!

[tonka]

nice, hopefully palm will be offering a slimmer form factor when it comes time to upgrade my pre. With HP driving mabe we'll see a wider selection of webos phones

[joe contursi]

what palm needs to do is develop web os for computers. The convenience of 'swiping' the trackpad to get back and forth to open apps would be an advntage over other os'. I've also made the commitment. I have 3 pre' phones, 3 touchstones and a car charger! Web os is a serious busines tool. Everything else is just a toy! I hope the 4g phones are coming soon!

[Totally and Completely Depressed and missing my TX]

Not sure how this is "merger" (more like a buyout) is going to help bring back a Palm TX device (a PDA). Tell HP that some of us do not support and do not like the mini sized Pre and Pixis becuase they are too small to read, have tiny keyboards, and equally importantly come with giant sized data plans because they are cell phones. No we want a device that is separate that does not require a mandatory data plan, that does NOT back up our senstive and confidential data on a cloud where we can't control it. (And some of us actually like the tx TOUCH screen with STYLUS.) We want a device where we control the backup just like the TX. We want to choose our apps from Handago. In short, we still want the option of a pda or a small slate - the size of the Palm TX. ... and again I am still missing my Palm TX. I strongly think the exclusive road to cell phones is a bad plan for Palm. Even Apple, long known for its limited selection, does not sell only a cell phone - it now has several devices, a bunch of computers and bunch of music players. Two cell phone handsets is pretty bad especially when Palm was known for selling a decent handful of devices at once - that did not do all the same things. I can only hope HP listens.

[Gilberrt Vargas]

I love WebOS and the Pre. However, I really want to see a newer Pre or a totally redesigned product with a much larger touch screen: at least 3.75", 800x400 WVGA, slide out keyboard at least 25% larger, to accommodate Adult-like hands.

[m21671]

ok, now merge. Future HP Tablet with web-os